hippiechick wrote: 
thats at least 8 - 10 hours north of me, so sadly i am going to have to pass on the meetup.

My SO and I have decided to pass on Burning Man this year and take a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to freeload off my brother who is house sitting in Mill Valley. We will be arriving around the 23rd and leaving that area to travel to Yosemite or some other camping area on the 28th and returning home Labor Day weekend.

So:

1) Anybody have any suggestions for restaurants/sites we absolutely shouldn't miss while in the area?

2) If anyone would like to meet the Hippiechick in person (I am really a very nice person!) please pm me and we will try to meet up while we are there.

 Yibbyl wrote:
I like Redding.
It's close to Weed.

 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote:
Your city has been growing insanely fast!  Think I'll stick around here instead, if nothing else to help reduce the strain on your infrastructure!    You probably enjoy the sand far more than I do.  I love being near water, more water, and mountains.  And though you have a horse with no name, we have several unnamed cows within 1/4 mile of our house, but still far enough away not to smell! 

From my list of desired characteristics, Redding really only has 1 significant draw for me:  very easy access to all sorts of outdoor activities.  Not on the list, but even more important is BluEyes, but when I decided to move here, she was really just an RP friend with possibilities for something more.  The culture/arts/music scene here is not as strong as Sacramento's, but with almost 3 million in that metro area, it should be better than Redding's!  Our city brings in quite a bit of entertainment given its size.  The education level here is low and transportation out of the immediate area is quite expensive due to the tiny airport.  In hindsight, I probably should have worded those things I was disappointed in about Sacramento as being "relative to the size of the city".

 Yibbyl wrote: 

Wow.
Not picky at all.

You should live here.
Sand, hills and no rain.
A horse with no name.

 Yibbyl wrote: 
Railroad Museum, Sutter's Fort, Port of Sacramento, Sacto Old Town, Governor Hiram Johnson's (1911-1917, later US Senator) family mansion, now divided into 4 apartments in which my son once lived.  The front bedroom (the Governor's room)  was unused except when my son had guests, because the Gov apparently still inhabits it.  I stayed in it one night and slept like a baby.

 Yibbyl wrote: 
No I think we're on the same page. Overall I think it would be *okay*, but weekends would be for getting out of town. Just like, um, Powell, Wyoming. 

 hippiechick wrote: 
Didn't see this earlier.  Looks like others have/had more appreciation for that city than I did.  I'll try not to be insulting.

I moved to Citrus Heights, an eastern suburb of Sacramento, from Paradise.  Yes, this Paradise!  I spent 3 years there before I was finally able to flee.  I obviously was not a fan of the area.

First, the good:  Very, very cheap air travel with many choices in airlines and destinations.  If she likes basketball, there are professional options for men & women to cheer for.  Also, there is a Triple A baseball team.  Sacramento itself has a really cool "Old Town" area, with good restaurants & bars/nightclubs that play host to numerous musical acts.  As others have stated, the city is conveniently located among many interesting locations that are only a comfortable day-trip away.

OK, the not so good:  The local music scene is overrun with mediocre blues acts and lots of scream-core/nu-metal acts.  She may actually see that as a plus, I didn't.  Like the Chicago area (I lived in Downer's Grove for 1 year), the interesting things are actually in the city; the suburbs are little more than groups of houses with occasional convenience stores nearby.  You don't hit the suburbs for the culture or nightlife, so one needs to expect a decent commute to get to anything truly interesting.  This also goes for any interest in outdoor activities, as the Sacramento metro area is definitely spread out, so one must drive a ways to get out of the sprawl.  One exception to this, would be the lower portion of the American River, which has some interesting areas/activities for the open minded (those who can enjoy nature with buildings in the background).  I grew tired of the traffic/commute times, which was as inefficient as the Washington, DC area, IMHO.  Crime is what one expects for a large metro area and includes a fair amount of gang-related activity.  As others have mentioned, summers are hot and spring & fall always feel like they ended too soon.  Winters there can get surprisingly cool, due to the frequent cloud cover & fog during that season.  This next part will probably annoy some people...my friends there who grew up in southern CA were surprised at the overt racism they encountered in the Sacramento area.  What I noticed (and couldn't figure out why they couldn't see it) was that there actually was racism in the southern half of the state, but it seemed focused on Latinos.  The northern half has those who seem to be biased against Latinos & African-Americans.  My opinion is that the amount of racism in the Sacramento area is as frequent as what I saw around Louisville, KY, but no where near that which one sees in UT.  Overall, I was disappointed in the activities, services & the educational level of the Sacramento area.  It reminded me a lot of the Phoenix, AZ area, without Phoenix's localized presence of a college-town vibe (Tempe).

As a point of reference, I grew up in a city of about 50K in ND & now live among 90K others.  I value quick access to outdoor activities, cultural activities, a well-educated population, & cheap transportation.  The largest 2 cities I ever really enjoyed living in are Seoul, Korea (21 million) & Washington, DC., so I am not necessarily anti-large metro areas.

 Manbird wrote: 
paham chyrch 'n Hen Violin i mewn i hon?

 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote: 
Was he King Clown? Or not?

 kysmet wrote: 

My old hometown.
Heck, even my dad was born there in '27.
My grandparents moved there from Minnesota in 1919.
Here's a picture of their shoe shop takn in '47 in old downtown which is now no more...

 hippiechick wrote: 

That's a good job if you want to live here.
They (the politicians) seem to want to push all businesses out of this great State.
I don't get it.

 Alexandra wrote: 
Helllllo Alexandra!

 kysmet wrote: 
"The Mothers of Invention at the Anaheim Convention"

I'll be in Anaheim in November

 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote: 
No, my daughter is interviewing for a position there, with the federal gov (she already works for the gov as a policy analyst. Much smarter than her mother )

 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote:Not Roseville?
My mother-in-law lives there.

Thankfully.

Sorry for you though.
================================

I lived in R'ville when I first took the job at the local HP campus. We're now a bit higher up in the foothills.
 

 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote: 


Hiya Kurt!

 jagdriver wrote:Not Roseville?
My mother-in-law lives there.

Thankfully.

Sorry for you though.

 hippiechick wrote: 

Are you moving from God's country?